Wednesday, August 31, 2011

That wraps up DC FIFTY-TOO, a huge thanks to everyone who participated and everyone who spread the word and left comments - it's terrifically appreciated. I hope everyone's had as much fun with it as I had, this was a blast. (I also hope DC sees some of these mock covers and realizes what kind of talent is sitting here just aching to work on some of their less-attended-to properties).

So, is this end of DC FIFTY-TOO? Well, yes ... of the first round. What's a month of solicitations without a second month of solicitations? Stay tuned come Monday for some second issues, awesome variant covers, and some all-new number ones from folks who weren't in on the first 52.

In the interim, looking at all 52 covers delivered so far, here's what impresses me the most: All of these fabricated titles look like so much fun to read. There is not a single title here which looks like a slog, or like it takes itself too seriously, it all looks so eminently accessible and enjoyable and there's not a one I wouldn't read if it were real (and a few I'll regret to my dying day aren't real titles). I enjoyed the heck out of this project so far, I hope you all did too, and here's looking forward to the next round!

Ron Salas is a graphic designer and comic artist whose illustrations have recently graced the covers of Dracula: The Company of Monsters as well as the interiors of 28 Days Later from BOOM! Studios and his
creator-owned Existence 2.0/3.0.

His illustrations can also be found on the Comic Twart collective sketch site that features new illustrations from today's leading comic artists. http://www.comictwart.com

Ron says: I always thought that Batman and Superman worked best during the era they came from--the 40's. That was a time when evil was more concrete and defeat-able. I think part of the problem with setting their stories in our time is that true evil these days can't be defeated with fists, gadgets, and superpowers. I wanted to take them back to that time while also giving them--instead of funky leotards--outfits that they could more realistically wear from around that time. Batman's outfit is basically a bat-cloaked motorcycle patrolman while Superman is an all-american football star. By reimagining them in this way I still retain their essential core while making them seem like they could actually arise organically from the times they lived in.

Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Read more...Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Read more...

I hope this letter finds you well. I know you have a lot going on right now with JLA and the 52 launch so I will keep this succinct. I am a cartoonist, illustrator, designer, and artist and I want to write and draw a Gen 13 period piece set in 1994.

My comics include the Eisner-nominated graphic novel, Afrodisiac, the Ignatz Award-winning mini-comic, Rambo 3.5, Street Angel, the PLAIN Janes, USApe, and the Guild. I have made comics for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, SLG, Fantagraphics, Vh1, McSweeney’s, and New York magazine. As an illustrator, my work has been recognized in AIGA’s 50/50, Communication Arts Illustration Annual, Print Regional Design Annual, American Illustration, the Society of Illustrators Annual, and the Best American Comics series. Clients include Smirnoff, Converse, Capcom, American Red Cross, and LA Weekly.

Dennis says: I always loved the “Superheroes in the Old West” idea of the Elseworlds Justice Riders by Chuck Dixon and JH WIlliams and thought it would be neat to have the “Justice” team legacy stretch even further back than the JSA.

My series would take place a bit before Return of Bruce Wayne #4 and detail what happened to Batman before he rode into Gotham. Whip Whirlwind is better known as Max Mercury who did a lot of bouncing through time himself taking on several identities during various eras. Abin Sur worked in the West during Legends of the DCU #21 so I figured he could turn up to chase down Starro. Since DC incorporated Wildstorm continuity I figured the immortal Zealot (Lady Zannah) from Wildcats would make a nice addition to the team. I was on the fence about Super-Chief (Saganowahna) until I remembered how writer Chris Roberson in a recent issue of Superman hinted that the Manitou Stone had Kryptonian origins.

Future members might include Nighthawk and Cinnamon (who eventually reincarnate into Hawkman and Hawkwoman), the Vigilante, the angel Zauriel, and a time travelling android named Hourman!

James Edward Clark is a illustrator, comic artist and art school drop-out from Toronto, Canada. Keep on eye on his blog (http://jamesedwardclark.blogspot.com) as he will be releasing his first self-published comic, "EVIL comics", in the coming weeks.

James says: About Omac.... I'm a huge Jack Kirby fan. My favorite Kirby stuff is the offbeat books he made in the 70's while jumping back and forth between DC and Marvel. Stuff like Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man or over on the DC end of things, OMAC. OMAC is a bizarre scatter shot dystopian future fairytale about a hapless 90 pound knob who worked at a robotic sex doll factory named Buddy Blank. Blank is transformed into "OMAC" a literal One Man Army Corps with a 2 foot tall mohawk by a giant floating Eye ball in space. Isn't that an awesome concept for a book?

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Bruce McCorkindale is a freelance comic book artist who tends to specialize in inking. His work can be found most recently in IDW's Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters and Image Comics' Golly! Bruce also creates artwork for the advertising/editorial world via his studio, Action Impulse Studios. Website here: http://www.actionimpulse.com/﻿

﻿The Inferior Five was created by E.Nelson Bridwell and Joe Orlando. Read more...

Daniel Schneider is a 24 year old born and raised true Albertan cowboy, who grew up on a purebred Black and Red Angus cattle ranch with his family. Finding his true calling in the wonderful world of comics he has never looked back. Having had some small success with company's such as Zenescope and About Comics, Daniel took a 2 year break after a steel pipe decided to split open his skull. Now he's again doing what he loves best and ready to jump head first back into comics.

He is currently working on try-outs for various companies and also working on collaborating with Andrew Foley writer of Done to Death on his next creator owned project. On top of all of this Daniel has also become one of five Perfect Pitch finalist with a chance at winning $25,000 to fund his creator owned comics "Dynasty" and "Dear Danny: Welcome to Left Field".

Bartholomew Alouysius Lash or "Bat Lash" was created by Joe Orlando, Carmine Infantino, Sheldon Mayer, and Sergio Aragones. He was created with the intent of riding high on the western craze of the time, but they wanted a cowboy different from all the rest and so Bat Lash was born. Daniel picked Bat Lash knowing that he could bring a authentic cowboy feel to Bat Lash and the DC western characters like no other. Plus who doesn't like the gimmick of having the cowboy book drawn by the world's only cowboy comic book artist? If you want to follow Dan and his career or check out more of his work you can find it out on his website at smashedheadstudios.com

Lastly He would like to thank all the great artists who helped put this project together and were a part of making this as big of a success as it is.

Dan's description of Bat Lash: The civil war is over, but America's west is just starting to show why it earned the name 'wild'. Bandits, gangs, ghosts and myth threaten good, honest people around every corner, they need a savior. A lawman to strike fear in the hearts of the vile and wicked things that chill an innocent's soul. A lone gunman who holds no quarter for injustice, and can bring order to the frontier. They need a legend.
But for now Bat Lash will have to do.

Bartholomew Alouysius Lash, or Bat Lash, a son born to the testament that opposites attract, is not your average hero. Simply looking to find a peaceful hand of poker to play, and gal to charm. Trouble always seems to find him instead. Forced into the role of our reluctant hero, he'll need quick wits and a quicker gun to keep himself alive. Of course a smart mouth and loose lips ain't helping matters, but he'll do his best to right the wrongs. Which begs the question 'Bat Lash, will he save the west, or ruin it?'

Aaron Gillespie is an Iowa City based cartoonist and storyboard artist. His work has been in Negative Burn (Desperado), Golly (Image), The Wretch (Slave Labor) as well as other books. He is currently working on a graphic novel.

Aaron says: I've always been a huge fan of the Kanigher/Kubert war comics, so it was an easy choice of what book I wanted to revamp. I love the way those comics had multiple "panels" and tons of text on the cover, and I tried to recreate that.

I would also like to thank my pal Rick Hiltbrunner for coloring the cover. Rick is a talented cartoonist who does a webstrip you can read here www.skidmarksjohnson.com.

The Viking Commando was created by Robert Kanigher and George Evans. Read more...Brooklyn (of the Boy Commandos) was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Read more...

Jon Morris is a Washington-based cartoonist and is probably best known for his webcomic Jeremy. He is also the writer of the comic blog Gone&Forgotten, operates the Cornered collaborative art blog, and is the founder and curator of this, the DC Fifty-Too project. His website is Calamity Jon Save Us!

Stephen DeStefano is a legitimate cartooning legend, and is best known for 'Mazing Man, Hero Hotline, Instant Piano and the very popular pilot for the Plastic Man cartoon, plus his extensive storyboarding work, liscensing artwork for Popeye, and most recently his new book "Lucky In Love." Much more of Stephen's work can be seen at his blog.

Jon says: First off, it was a real thrill and an honor to have my pencils inked by Stephen DeStefano. I'm all kinds of a fan of this guy, this is a high point of my cartooning career.

I've always thought Plastic Man worked best in the way Jack Cole originally intended him - as a perfectly sane man in an utterly insane world. As much as I've enjoyed the 'wacky' Plas from other stories, I've always enjoyed it more when Plas is a flexible and unflappable straight man and everyone else around him provides the absurdity. I'm also a big fan of Kyle Baker's Plastic Man series, so it's in the spirit of that book that I picture Plas as a family man - not only is his 'adopted' daughter Edwina still lurking around, as is Plas' teenage son (you may know him as Offspring) but Plas has a new pair of bouncing baby Plases - I've named them "Sugar and Spike". I couldn't fit him into the cover (except as a photo), but no fear, "Uncle Woozy" is still part of the crew.

One of the things Kyle Baker was so good at doing was parodying not only the contemporary 'events' of the DC Universe, but the conventions of the superhero comic genre in general, so that's the inspiration behind taking a shot at Blackest Night...

The only other thing I wanted to mention was the logo - I'm sure you noticed that it's a Batman logo with Plastic Man's head popping out of the top. I envisioned the logo changing every issue to another familiar silhouette of another character's logo - Superman's one month, The Justice League the next, Aquaman, Flash, etc - with Plas' head popping out of it and the actual title in that lovely Organda Bold (you have to love that "C", don't you?)

Monday, August 29, 2011

Eric Bonhomme is an illustrator living in Miami Florida. He has worked for various clients and continues o broaden his range in the illustration/design industry. He has created a self titled book "The Hunted" , an was Published thanks to the good folk's at the Passenger Press. Eric is currently working on his personal projects : Vintage 76/ Demon Ditch series. Follow him on his blog for the latest Ventures http://liquidstone.blogspot.com/.

Steve Bryant is the Eisner and Manning Award-nominated writer/artist of Athena Voltaire. He lives in central Illinois with his awesome son and amazing dog. Together, they travel the country in a van, solving crimes. You can see more of his work athttp://atomictiki.blogspot.com

Steve says: This piece presented a challenge for me. When I initially volunteered for Fifty-Too, I knew that the book I would LOVE to work on would be Challengers of the Unknown. The Challengers were all about what I love most about comics: pure, unadulterated adventure, with wide-open possibilities. You want to do a dinosaur adventure? An occult threat? A lost civilization? UFOs? The Challengers of the Unknown can fit easily into any of those genres.

And that's where the problems began. What scene did I want to do? Should I focus on one character over the others? How can I fit five figures into the scene, and a threat, and a setting? And which threat in which setting?!

With my brain about to explode with option anxiety, I opted for a montage scene, but was still determined to do full figures. Of course, that fell by the wayside in a tangle of legs and arms. Once I settled on the bust/movie poster idea, I was able to start adding in the elements. Again, UFOs, dinosaurs, and lost civilizations popped up. And a laser-blast. And an arcane stone tablet.

I'm not 100% satisfied with the cover image I drew, but I love the possibilities of the series that it suggests. In a perfect world, I'd love to illustrate this series, with scripts by Mark Schultz (for my money, there's no one who writes straightforward adventure yarns in comics today). Ah, to dream…

Along with me on this foray into the Unknown is color artist Jason Millet. Jason attacked this piece with a brighter pallet than I originally imagined, but I love the end result. After all, if you're telling stories about a group of adventurers in purple jumpsuits, it makes sense to set it in a bright, colorful world. See more of Jason's work at http://www.jasonmillet.com

Zack Soto is a cartoonist and printmaker who lives in Portland, OR. He's the creator of the comic THE SECRET VOICE and the editor and publisher of the Ignatz and Stumptown Comic Art Fest Award winning anthology STUDYGROUP12. Zack's done work for Adhouse Books, Avodah, SLG, & Dark Horse Comics. You can follow him at http://www.zacksoto.com/ or http://theesecretvoice.tumblr.com/ , whichever floats your boat.

Corey Lewis (the Reyyy) entered the comix game with a flash in 2005 with his dual graphic novels "Sharknife" and "PENG!" published by Oni Press. At this time he also contributed backup strips to Udon Comics' original Street Fighter and Darkstalkers comics. Afterward, he and his team, StudioYOSH! (with Orc Stain's James Stokoe on backgrounds) drew the Rival Schools comic also published by Udon. Reyyy has contributed to a few anthologies, including Meathaus S.O.S and Image's first Popgun anthology with a short story called "Pinapl" colored by Dylan McCrae. He has ventured into online comics, participating (and being re-invited to) DC's Zuda Comics imprint, and also starting his own webcomic about alien space grapes "SEEDLESS" (collected in it's first volume by Image comics).

Most recently, Rey has been in two Marvel Comics anthologies, "Strange Tales" (vol 1) featuring a story about LONGSHOT, and "Nation X" with a story about CANNONBALL. He also contributed to two short-stories for Dark Horse's "Avatar: The Lost Adventures" book, one written by J. Torres, and one written by himself called "Ember Island Arcade" featuring Zuko of the Fire Nation.

Currently, Rey has recently wrapped up work on his LONG awaited sequel to the first volume of Sharknife, "SHARKNIFE DOUBLE Z", which will be out in 2012 from Oni Press. As well as working on a line of self-published comics magazines called "Layered Jacket", another followup to both Sharknife Double Z and PENG-- and a secret project called "SICK BURN" are all in the works.

Corey says: So what I created here, is a version of NIGHTWING that takes place during the ancient Egyptian period. Some speculate that an ancient race of aliens could have influenced humans at this time. My version of Nightwing operates during this era that mixes an alien race's advanced technology with that of early brutal man. He wields two "scarab horns" made of pure physical energy and fights flying Pharoahs with jetpacks, amongst many enemies. He strives to free humanity from the oppressive forces of the Annunaki. My Nightwing also has white hair and is viewed by his fellow Egyptians as a demigod. I'm thinking he may have the ability to slip through shadows, too, as my awkward feet placement kinda suggests ;]

Nightwing was created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson / Marv Wolfman and George Perez. Read more...

The final three days of DC FIFTY-TOO are upon us with the last twelve covers coming up in quick succession. It'll be a shame to see the project close its doors ... or will it? (Close its doors, I mean, it'll definitely be a shame to see it close its doors ... I could've made that clearer)

Friday, August 26, 2011

Brendan Tobin is an illustrator who worked in the NY animation industry for several years and currently freelances from Newport, RI. He often posts his nonsensical artwork at his blog, http://brendantobin.blogspot.com/.

Brendan says: Brother Power, the Geek was an exercise in creating a character to reflect the American hippie counter-culture movement by Joe Simon, famous golden age collaborator of Jack Kirby and co-creator of Captain America. The obscure character, Brother Power, was a tailor's mannequin imbued with life by a freak lightning strike while wearing bloodied hippie threads, who continued on to fight for the rights of the disenchanted youth as a misunderstood abomination. The first issue was published in October 1968 and was cancelled by "the man" after issue number two.

Steve Rolston has drawn a bunch of comics such as Queen & Country, Pounded, Mek, The Escapists, Tales of the TMNT, Degrassi, Emiko Superstar and, most recently, the supernatural thriller Ghost Projekt. He also wrote & illustrated the slacker noir graphic novel One Bad Day. His website is www.steverolston.com

Dave McCaig colors things. He has used red, green and many other hues on Action Comics, X-Men, Avengers, Detective Comics, Northlanders, American Vampire, and countless other titles. He also runs Gutterzombie.com, the colorist message board.

Steve says: When coming up with ideas for this cover, I obviously had to think about what story I would tell if I got to do a series about the character Death. In a nutshell, it involves a young woman who realizes that a near-death experience in her youth left her with more than just emotional scars and hazy memories of a pale girl with a silver ankh around her neck. She discovers that, unlike most in the mortal realm, she has the ability to see the entity known as Death. And now a mysterious occultist wants to cut out her eyeballs and take that power for himself.

The hat that Death wears in the painting is a reference to la Calavera Catrina, an elegant female skeleton figure often portrayed in Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations.

Adam Watson is a Seattle-based cartoonist, illustrator, and amateur entomologist. He's a founding member of the Bureau of Drawers (link) and is currently hard at work on some very exciting projects debuting later this year. You can find more of his work at his blog:themightyadam.blogspot.com

Adam says: I can't say I've ever read much of "the Demon," but I suppose there's something very appealing about the Jeckyl/Hyde nature of the Demon Etrigan and Jason Blood, Knight of the Round Table. As I started to sketch the Demon (and his supporting characters) in my sketchbook, stories started to unfold in my head. Those scraps of stories informed the cover here, but really I picked him because he's just really fun to draw.

Jon says: Much time has passed since young Amy Winston was a mere Princess of Gemworld. In her desperate struggles against the tyrant Dark Opal, the Flaw and the Child, and the archsorcerer Mordru, Amy drew upon the planet’s limitless energies, becoming an avatar of Gemworld itself. Now, a lifetime away from Earth, Amy shields the inhabitants of Gemworld from menaces beyond time and space. She is AMETHYST, GODDESS OF GEMWORLD.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Scott Faulkner is a great fan of pinup illustration and the long tradition of "good girl" art in comics. As a member of Seattle's Bureau of Drawers comic collective, he does his best to uphold those traditions and would like to see more fun come back to super-hero comics. Angel and the Ape have already been through a couple of reboots - both in the 90s (where it was awkwardly crammed into DC continuity), and in the 00s (where it was dredged through Vertigo sensibilities) - but neither attempt matched the goofy appeal of the original, or the wonderful artwork of Bob Oksner.

Benjamin Says: When Jon first asked me to take part in this project, I was sort of at a loss as to what character to pick. But once I remembered that The Heckler was my favorite character ever in anything, the cover appeared to me fully formed. It was a risk making such an incredibly inside reference to one particular issue of a comic that only ran for six months and was probably read by four or five people, but it fit the context of the project so perfectly. One of the best things about The Heckler was how it subtly addressed the industry at the time. Hopefully I've reflected that sensibility in my own small way.

The Heckler was created by Keith Giffen and Tom & Mary Bierbaum. Read more...

Tracie Mauk is a cartoonist/actress/cubicle drone living in Omaha, Nebraska. Her work has appeared in publications such as Wildguard: Insider, Golly! Catching Hell, Matinee Eclectica, and the prestigious and long dead Nebraska Quarterhorse Magazine. She can also be found online via DeviantArt, Tumblr, and as co-creator of the webcomic FIGHT! with writer Kevin Church.

Tracie says: "Impulse is one of my all-time favorite characters and I felt a lot of temptation to put Bart Allen back in the role, for this piece, but ever since Wally West's daughter, Iris, pronounced herself the new Impulse in Flash: Rebirth, I've really liked the idea of a young girl with her dad's Speed Force connection who happens to have a twin brother who got cut out of the whole superpower deal and has to stay at home with Mom, while Irey and Wally go on patrol together. That seemed like it would create some fun conflict for the characters with Irey having to deal with Jai's jealousy and frustration and it throws a very young, female superhero in the mix, which I totally get behind. It's a shame that was never really explored further."

Impulse and Iris West were created by Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo, Alex Ross and Ethan van Sciver. Read more...

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Evan "Doc" Shaner is a freelance cartoonist living in Colorado. He's done work for Oni Press, as well as Archaia's upcoming Jim Henson's Storyteller anthology and a few issues of Dark Horse Presents coming this fall. More of his work can be found at www.evanshaner.com, and you can follow him on twitter at @DocShaner, where he spends the majority of his time talking about Captain Marvel and Popeye.

Sean says: Some of my all-time favorite comic book covers are on the B.P.R.D. 1946 series; this is an homage to #4. As kind of a nod to that inspiration, I've used the old DC logo from the 40's. In the background I've added a parademon from the old Super Powers cartoon (or my take on one), I always liked them more than their comic book counterparts.

Evan Keeling is a born and raised Washington DC comic artist and writer. He is a founding member of the DC Conspiracy, a collective of Washington, DC area comic book artists and writers and has been self-publishing comic books for print and for the web over the last five years. Evan has also been one of the principle organizers for the DC Conspiracy’s yearly counter culture Festival for the last four years. He has worked with numerous DC area bands, producing posters, CD covers, videos and t-shirt designs. He contributed art to the Eisner nominated anthologyTrickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection. Currently he is coloring Matt Dembicki's great white shark epic XOC coming out in 2012 from Oni Press. As well as working on CrumbSnatchers, an all-ages comic written by Stephanie Butto and Nancy boy a teen-crime tale written by Jason Griffenhagen. His website is http://www.etkeeling.com

Evan says: When Jon approached me about this project the first characters that came to my mind were Firehair and Hawk son of Tomahawk. When I approached him about doing something with both of them one of the western titles he suggested was Weird Western Tales, and the ideas just flowed from there.

Firehair is the only surviving orphan of a raid on a wagon train. Raised by a Medicine man of the Blackfoot Indians. Skilled in the fighting and spiritual ways of the Blackfoot Indians Firehair has pushed himself to be the best and prove himself to his tribe. But he has never been accepted in the Indian world or the white world. So he has been roaming the country looking for a place to make his home. He thinks he might have found it in Echo Valley with his friend Hawk “son of Tomahawk” Haukins.

Hawk is the son of famous frontiersman Tom Haukins and his Indian wife Moon Fawn. They have made Echo Valley their home for quite a while. Although his father trained him and he is quite accomplished in fighting and tracking, Hawk would prefer to spend his time running the Echo Valley Saloon and perusing the ladies.

As our story begins Echo Valley has been set upon by a number of supernatural attacks and unbeknownst to Hawk the force behind them is his uncle Wise Owl and his puppet Lazarus Lane also known as the vigilantly El Diablo. El Diablo generally is patrolling the area helping out the helpless, but at times he is drawn to his resurrector Wise Owl to do his bidding.

The stories and story arcs at the beginning would center around Firehair and Hawk reluctantly getting pulled deeper and deeper into battling the supernatural creatures that are drawn to the mystical energy that Wise Owl is gathering around him through his dark rituals.

Firehair was created by Joe Kubert. Read more...Hawk, Son of Tomahawk, was created by Robert Kanigher and Frank Thorne. Read more...

Evan has included several pages of sketches for his concept of the series, which may be found below the cut:

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Nathan Fox was born in 1975 in Washington D.C. Raised from the age of five on the suburban outskirts of Houston, an early addiction to Cartoons, Commercials and Video Games led to a lifelong exploration of Narrative Art and the over-stimulation associated with his generation. In the hopes of making such an addiction his full time job, Nathan left Texas for Missouri where he attended the Kansas City Art Institute.

What followed over the next four years can only be described as an eye opening experience compared to the somewhat quiet Southern upbringing. The discovery of Anime, Yoshitoshi's Yukiyo-e Prints, Sideshows and Comics would lead him down the happily twisted path he still follows today.

After graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1997, Nathan pursued Illustration from Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the next two years with little result. Frustrated with pursuing editorial illustration and working as an offset pressman, he and his wife moved to New York City in 2000 where Nathan attended The School of Visual Arts Illustration As Visual Essay Graduate Program. Those two years of graduate study would prove to be the most fruitful as Nathan has been freelancing full time as an illustrator and storyteller ever since. His work has appeared in The New York Times Newspaper and Magazine, Interview, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Wired, ESPN Magazine, Print, Entertainment Weekly, Mother Jones, Spin, Mad Magazine, MTV Store Windows and T-shirts, Burton US Open 2009, Instant Winner and REAL Skateboards, DC Comics, Vertigo, Dark Horse Comics, Marvel and many other publications and mediums.

Future projects include pursuing Comics, Narrative Illustration and Gallery Work. For further information, updates and samples of Nathan's illustration work, Comics, Murals, Skate Decks and more, visit http://www.foxnathan.com/ on the World Wide Web.

Nathan says: As for the concept behind it, I wanted to at least try and pay homage to what has come before and what has yet to be seen in one way or another. Decades have passed and the slate, by number at least, is about to be swiped clean and rebooted for "a new generation of readers".

As a father of two daughters, one of which idolizes Wonder Woman - even before she can independently read a comic book - it is my hope that whomever picks up the torch from her on out, will give due justice and respect to the women characters in comics as well as the female readers of comics. "Men", for lack of a better term, will always be "served", but when strong female characters take the lead among men and carry the torch, as a father AND artist, it is something truly remarkable to behold. When you witness that kind of iconic inspiration on paper reflected in an anxious and impressionable girls eyes (guys too...). Anything becomes possible at that age and as long as "she" (The hero and the reader) is in the right and not wrong, she never has to take "no" for an answer, be backed into a corner or be ashamed of who she is, where she comes from or what she can become. Wonder Woman is an american icon as much as she is a role model, a beautiful amazon woman and kicker of much evil ass. I hope she never fades - as much as I hope she will continue to evolve and inspire millions.

Sometimes and with certain characters, it could be said for some readers, that, "comics" can truly play a role in ones life.

Sappy, I know. Fatherhood does a lot to a man... - but crazier things have happened, like... invisible planes, frogs falling from the sky or a man on the moon.

Wonder Woman is arguably one of those iconic, life altering characters, and for very reason she will always be - a marvel to behold and a woman empowered to inspire.

Good luck comics and happy reading, readers...
cheers,
n

Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston and H.G.Peters. Read more...

Neal Von Flue is an artist whose day-job consists of teaching art, painting murals, drawing pictures, and accomplishing a wide array of art services. By night, he likes to make comics about old folk songs and play banjo and musical saw in Hang Dog Expression.

Neal says: My idea is to relaunch Kid Eternity as an all ages series. Instead of growing older, the kid would be still young and filled with all the angst and regular emotions that a young boy had, the Lost-Boy rebellion, etc. The deal is to see how a 10 year old who can summon any adult (or child) from the depths of history would react to any given situation. What kind of problems would he come across and how could he use his (possibly) limited knowledge of history to solve them? You know darn well he'd be pulling out cowboys and pirates and whatnot, but would he like these living icons when they got here? and furthermore, when he's not crime-fighting, would he call up Van Gogh for painting lessons, or Einstein to help him with his homework? What kinds of adventure and frustrations come about when a kid can run amuck in history in order to solve their problems?

Kid Eternity was created by Otto Binder and Sheldon Moldoff. Read more...

Mike Maihack lives in Tampa, FL and draws a popular webcomic called Cleopatra in Spacewith the help of histwo Siamese cats. He draws a bunch of other stuff too, but his cats don’t help much with those things. In fact, they don’t help much on Cleopatra either now that he thinks about it… Let’s start over: Mike lives in Tampa, FL with two very lazy and useless cats. Also with a loving wife and soon-to-be newborn son (who will hopefully wind up being a much better assistant). More of his work can be found at cowshell.com

Mike says:Can the same blonde-haired, wonder teen from Metropolis who helped Barbara Gordon finally put an end to Killer Moth's week-long crime spree also be the new popular transfer student at Gotham High? Good thing they have superheroics in common because Babs' and Kara Zor-El's student lives are about to clash."

That's a rough tagline for a book that shouldn't come as any big surprise for those who have followed me online for longer than a week. I would take a more all-ages approach to the series, placing Babs and Kara in high school who, despite some social differences, eventually become best friends. That's when I would introduce an idolizing fourteen-year-old Mary Marvel to annoy the heck out of them.

Batgirl was created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. Read more...Supergirl was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino. Read more...

Monday, August 22, 2011

Tony Esteves is a Canadian cartoonist hailing from the frozen wilderness of Edmonton, Alberta. From 1998 to 2008, he drew the webcomic Cigarro & Cerveja, a comic strip about a cigarette-smoking rabbit and a beer-drinking goose. Earlier this year, he launched Legendary Woodsman, an action adventure comic for all-ages. Tony also thinks he can dance but we know better.

Richard Dragon was created by Dennis O'Neil and Jim Berry. Read more...The Yetiwas created by Grant Morrison, J.G. Jones, and Joe Bennett.

Anthony Vukojevich majored in Illustration at Long Beach State. He self-published a comic book called Chick Magnet. He also did a comic called Envelope Licker for Robot Publishing. Anthony then got a job drawing Animation Backgrounds for Wild Thornberrys and As Told By Ginger. He has spent the last 5 years working on Phineas and Ferb for Disney. He draws props and does the character clean-up and color for posters and merchandise. Anthony has attended San Diego Comic-Con since 1981. Oh yeah, he also started a blog called Repaneled in which artists redraw comic book panels.

Scott Godlewski is a freelance illustrator based in Gilbert, AZ, having most recently worked for BOOM! Studios as artist on Codebreakers and Dracula: The Company of Monsters. He is also co-creator of both the action anthology, Mysterious Adventure Magazine; and the live comic art blog, Comic Improv. His website is http://www.scottgodlewski.com/.

Scott says: The detonation of the hydrogen bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki signaled both the end of the second World War and the beginning of the Atomic Age. Secrets man was not meant to know and a power man was not meant to wield have been loosed on the world. Now the greatest aces of World War II will unite and wage a new war against the unbelievable and the impossible, aided by the very science that has birthed their horrifying adversaries. These brave men are all that stand between humanity and the unimaginable madness of the atom's power. They are the BLACKHAWKS.

The Blackhawks were created by Will Eisner, Chuck Cuidera and Bob Powell. Read more...

Mike Norton has been working in comics for over 10 years now, gaining recognition for projects such as The Waiting Place and Jason and the Argobots. In 2001, he became Art Director for Devil’s Due Publishing where he drew the first Voltron mini-series. In 2005, he went freelance and has since made a name for himself working on books like Queen and Country, Gravity, Runaways, All-New Atom and Green Arrow/Black Canary, Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam, and Young Justice. He is currently drawing Marvel’s Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt, and his own weekly webcomic, Battlepug. He is also very, very tall (Editor's Note - It's true, I've seen satellite photos). See more of Mike's work at http://www.ihatemike.com/.

Mike says: Blue Beetle is my favorite DC character. Probably my favorite comic book character in general. I had a Ted Kord: Year One mini in development for like a week a few years ago and the cover concept for my Fifty Two cover comes from an pitch I had in with J. Torres around 2004 or so. The idea being that Dan Garrett's long lost grandson would claim the Blue Beetle legacy. The original pitch called for him to be trained by Booster and Beetle in a "My Two Dads" situation. Since then, Ted died and Booster became a full on time traveller. Jaime Reyes was also introduced and I loved him. So I just retooled the idea to make for a team-up type story. The talented Zac Atkinson (www.evilbyme.com) colored it for me. I hope you like it!

Blue Beetle I (Dan Garrett) was created by Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski and, later, reimagined by Joe Gill and Tony Tallarico. Blue Beetle II (Ted Kord) was created by Steve Ditko. Blue Beetle III (Jaime Reyes) was created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers and Cully Hamner.

Joel Priddy teaches comics and illustration at the Memphis College of Art and has lost a couple Eisners.

Joel says (with help from Benito Cerino): As the creeping hand of totalitarianism stretches its covetous grasp across Europe, one peerless woman dares toll the resounding, clarion peal of freedom! With the oppressive forces of darkness encroaching around her, Liberty Belle lives only to fight and to let her message ring: let us live to make men free! His website is http://www.joelpriddy.com/.

PLUS: Back on the home front, matchless Ma Hunkel cleans up the mean streets like an unstoppable cyclone of blue-collar justice!

Liberty Belle was created by Don Cameron and Chuck Winter. Read more...Ma Hunkel (a.k.a. The Red Tornado) was created by Sheldon Mayer. Read more...

Evan Bryce is a Texas-based artist/illustrator who has done stories and pin-ups in books such as the CBLDF Transmetropolitan tribute book, Egg, Negative Burn, Astonishing Wolf-Man, and Supermarket. He most recently inked an issue of The Guild:Tink. Most of his work is published online, like his webcomic Rick Dangerous, but he is currently working on two secret projects.

Batgirl was created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. Starman was created by James Robinson and Tony Harris.

Dan Christensen was born in California, grew up in Arizona, then moved to France. Since then he has written and drawn several graphic novels and comic books, including Red Hands and Paranormal. Heis currently working with Jamie S. Rich on a graphic novel for Oni Press, and is writing and drawing a noir fencing story for French publisher Scutella Editions.

Dan says of this piece: "Some of my favorite comic book covers of all time are the early Detective Comics covers of the 1930's and 40's, with the big title banners that take up nearly a third of the page. Although the banners reduced the space the cover artist could use, they had the advantage of catching the reader's eye, so that he (or she) immediately knew where their favorite monthly title was on the rack at the local drugstore or malt shop. I wanted my cover to have a definite retro feel to it, and didn't want to pass up a chance to draw the Crimson Avenger in the 1930's "old school" style. So there ya go."

Aaron Conley dropped out of little league to spend his days fully engrossed in a healthy dose of 25 cent Werewolf by Night and Marvel Tales featuring Spider-Man comics. When he realized there probably wasn’t going to be a chance of him actually turning into a wolf-man, the next best thing would probably be drawing werewolves all day and thus the desire to be a cartoonist was born. You can see most of these cartoons on the website he shares with fellow artist Damon Gentry.

Paul says: "Why Jimmy Olsen?
"I'm struggling to explain my reasoning after the fact, since I didn't put much thought into my submission -- I knew immediately who and what I would draw.

"I've been fond of (obsessed with) Superman for most of my life, after being exposed in rapid brain-altering succession to the Smithsonian Superman exhibit, the Superboy television series (which, not-coincidentally, prominently featured Bizarro and Metallo), the Ruby Spears Superman cartoon series and a full run of John Byrne revamp issues my father obtained under shady circumstances. Superman III, IV, and Supergirl (featuring, not-coincidentally, Jimmy and Lucy Lane) were all rerun to death throughout my formative years as well, and in my head that stuff is all smooshed into a sort of mini-canon by which all other incarnations of Superman are measured. Most fall short, usually in the "fun" department.

Sandra Lanz, who is busy with the upcoming Luci's Let Down, colored this submission despite having little-to-no knowledge of or affection for these characters. That she agreed to do it and did it so well is a testament to her overall awesomeness as a person and an artist. Sandra also does the art for PSAs From Panels, an offshoot of Agreeable Comics' The Rack. (While you're there, stop by The Line, which is drawn by me.)

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Trevor Alixopulos draws comics and illustrations. he has two graphic novels published by Sparkplug Comic Books, Mine Tonight and The Hot Breath of War. The latter was nominated for an Ignatz award for Outstanding Graphic Novel.

Trevor says of this piece: I chose "UNEXPECTED" because I enjoy that old comic, with its hosts Mildred, Mordred and Cynthia. I've also always been amused by the very low-stakes, prosaic title. I like to imagine a new series based on fairly mundane events in their lives. You can see more of my work at www.hautejunk.blogspot.com

"My choice was The Sea Devils. The underwater/adventure theme inspired me. I gave the Devils a new suit. They look like oldschool deep sea divers now. In this first issue they meet the lord of the sea, Neptune. I didn't want him to look downright evil, but more like some crazy giant. He is surrounded by predatory fish and a man-shark servant.

I also took a great deal of inspiration from the Belgian cartoonist Marc Sleen. He did a similar cover for a story named "The Pearl of Neptune" in 1949."

What is RELAUNCHED?

RELAUNCHED is a showcase of varied and independent artists given free reign over the comics and characters that they love. Contributors to RELAUNCHED choose an existing property and create their own take on it. Using only their own creativity and craftsmanship, they create a cover and a plot synopsis showing off their interpretation of characters ranging from from Alpha Flight to Zatanna and everyone in between.

RELAUNCHED began life as DC FIFTY-TOO, in which 52 creators (and a few more) were invited to create their own interpretations of a revamped DC Universe, completely liberated from editorial oversight. This was followed by MARVEL UNIVERSE TOO:WHAT IF? where many of the creators returned to work their magic with the Marvel Comics Universe.